


The Future, Children, and Other Complicated Disasters

by baby_impala (TideNightWalker), KTTallent



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety, Aromantic Jack Kline, Aromantic Kaia Nieves, Asexual Jack Kline, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Lots of Cursing, M/M, Non-Canon Relationship, Nonbinary Character, Physical Disability, So much angst, Time Travel, but also just as silly as it suggests, cursing, darker than the title suggests, the writers wanted to cry and so will you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-03-20 12:51:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13718070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TideNightWalker/pseuds/baby_impala, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KTTallent/pseuds/KTTallent
Summary: "I just need a win. I need a damn win." -Dean Winchester, 13x05"Everybody knows that the dice are loaded//Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed//Everybody knows that the war is over//Everybody knows that the good guys lost."- Sigrid, 'Everybody Knows'"Stupid South Dakota,” She muttered. “Stupid sun, stupid treeless middle of fucking nowhere.” She would have trudged along like that, muttering complaints about “damn South Dakota” under her breath for much longer, but she was on a very strict deadline."ORThe story is just as much of a mess as the summary.





	1. Is This the Real Life?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
> 
> A few quotes from our writing process:
> 
> "NOOOO NOT MY PRECIOUS CHILD!"
> 
> "That's so awful..... Let's do it."
> 
> "If we just cried, this is gonna be awful for everyone else."
> 
> "We haven't even written them into the story and they're already my favorite."

Traveling had always made her dizzy, and this wasn’t any better. In fact, it was much, much worse. But there was a reason she was doing all this, and she wouldn’t let a stupid bout of dizziness stop her. Cade stood still for a moment as she regained her balance, then started walking due east, toward the only road for miles, suddenly wishing she had brought a water bottle. Or maybe three.

“Stupid South Dakota,” She muttered. “Stupid sun, stupid treeless middle of fucking nowhere.” She would have trudged along like that, muttering complaints about “damn South Dakota” under her breath for much longer, but she was on a _very_ strict deadline. In fact, one she was in danger of missing. Her walk turned into an all-out run, the road slowly appearing in her field of vision. Her shoes scraped to a stop in the middle of the road just as the roar of an engine blasted her ears from behind, followed by the screech of tires. She didn’t turn around, preparing herself for what she was about to face.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, standing in the middle of the road like that?!” A middle-aged woman yelled at her from behind her back, the voice slowly approaching as the woman undoubtedly got out of the car to investigate. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed!” The voice was painfully familiar to Cade, but the woman didn’t know that.

Cade slowly turned around, keeping a carefully blank face. She couldn’t risk all this by showing the wrong emotion.

“Sorry, ma’am,” she smiled her sweetest, most obviously fake smile toward the woman she now faced. She needed these people to remember her. “I didn’t realize I was in the way.” Not the biggest lie she had ever told, but still a big fat lie. It hurt to lie to Jody Mills, but it had to be done.

Jody narrowed her eyes at her in confusion. “You ‘didn’t realize’? Kid, you’re in the middle of the road.”

“I mean…” Cade racked her brain, trying to think of an excuse. “I don’t really pay attention to my surroundings a ton when I’m running for my l--” Cade shut her mouth and gave Jody a tiny, nervous smile. At least she had one emotion she could work to her advantage.

“I can tell,” Jody deadpanned, raising an eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re okay, kid?”

Suddenly, a gunshot went off behind Jody, and a salt bullet whistled past Cade and Jody’s ears. Jody spun around to yell at the attacker, but Patience Turner clambered out of the truck, shotgun in hand.

“Get away from it, Jody!” She yelled. Cade’s already anxiety-knotted stomach dropped in dread. The psychic was here.

Cade was so fucked.

“It’s a monster,” Patience explained. “It came out of a portal, someone’s in danger.” Cade frowned at her. Stupid psychics.

“Just ‘someone’?” Jody growled. “You can’t fire a shot kid, you could’ve killed both of us.”

“I’m not actually a monster,” Cade piped up. Jody and Patience both turned to look at her, and she gulped. She was strangely comforted (but also terrified) to discover that Jody still had her signature glare, even 16 years later. “I- um, I’m kinda-”

Patience glared at Cade. “I know what I saw. I saw you climbing out of some weird portal-looking thing! Then, I saw you fighting some guy in a white suit, and Sam Winchester getting stabbed!”

Cade’s eyes widened. This was bad. This was very, very bad. “You aren’t supposed to see that.”

Patience continued to glare as she crossed her arms. “And why is that? Afraid we’re gonna expose you for killing someone?” 

Cade looked at the ground. This was going downhill fast. She had to convince them. How to do that, how to-

“Hey!” Jody exclaimed sharply. “You know your visions aren’t always connected. It doesn’t sound like there’s any to this girl fighting a guy in a white suit and Sam getting stabbed.”

Patience had the humility to look embarrassed.  “Well, no, but-”

“Did the guy in white even look like Sam? Does Sam ever wear a white suit?” Jody continued, barreling over Patience’s attempt at an excuse.

He had worn a white suit once, but Cade didn’t feel like that was a good thing to mention.

“I couldn’t see the guy, and no, but Jody I-”

“Save it,” Jody snapped. She sighed slowly, spent a second to silently peer at Cade, and looked toward the passenger seat of the car. A swift gesture by Jody toward the car and Claire Novak was climbing out of it, pistol in hand. Even from this distance, Cade could see that the safety was off. _Shit_ . _Shit shit shit._

Jody turned back to Cade, an eyebrow raised. “You said you’re not a monster, right?”

Cade nodded frantically. “Yes. Yep. Yepitty-yep-yep. So mu-”

Jody glared, cutting Cade off as Claire leaned against the truck. “Save it. We’re gonna take you to some friends of ours.” Jody glanced toward Claire, then back at Cade. “They will either help you or help us deal with you.”

“You better hope you aren’t a monster, honey.” Claire spoke nonchalantly, but the effect of her words, combined with her cocking her pistol, was less than pleasant.

_Tough luck, Cade. That’s_ exactly _what you are._


	2. Don't Tell Me You're Too Blind To See

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "Never Gonna Give You Up." Yes, KTallent went there. No, they do not regret it. No, they will not apologize.
> 
> Inner (heavily heavily dramatized) thoughts from KT, who finished this chapter because they were kinda bored/missing the story:
> 
> "Wow maybe I should start watching SPN again."
> 
> "How do you paragraph??"
> 
> "So this is why I can't do musical theatre. I can't character."

It took too long to get in the car.

For a few seconds Claire, Jody, and Cade were at a standstill, looking at each other with wary gazes. Cade knew they couldn’t afford trust, but it still clawed at her heart, the way they looked at her. She _knew_ them. They didn’t know her (yet), but she wouldn’t let that get in the way of completing what she had set out to do.

Cade slowly, _slowly_ moved toward the car. Claire’s cocked gun flew up, trained directly at Cade’s heart. Cade froze, heart pounding, only moving again when a stern look from Jody made the gun go down again. Jody took a pair of handcuffs off of her belt, locking them around Cade’s wrists. The gun was still cocked. Through all this, Patience watched Cade’s every move, suspicion practically radiating off of her.

Once actually in the car, Cade could finally let out a breath. Her heart was still pounding and adrenaline was still rushing through her veins, but she was among friends, not enemies. If she kept her cool until she could get her message through, she would be fine. She had to be.

Hours passed, the full car only stopping once or twice when they reached the lonely rest stops on the dusty road. The car was tense, Claire sitting right next to Cade with that damn gun still in her lap. It felt stifling, the odd silence only adding to the feeling. If she was back home, the car would have been full of laughter, smiles, and inside jokes. God, she couldn’t wait to get back.

At one point during the day, just as the sun was beginning to set against the flat, colorless horizon, Jody made a call. Patience, who had switched with Claire and was sitting in the passenger seat, leaned in toward Jody as she held her phone up to her ear, dark eyes flicking around to glance at Cade. She opened her mouth to speak but was silenced by a shushing motion from Jody. The phone began to ring.

“Jody?” A deep, tinny voice emanated from the phone, just loud enough that Cade could hear if she focused hard enough.

“Hey, Dean,” Jody started, voice betraying a smile. Cade’s heart leaped into her throat. “We’re in South Dakota, have a kid in the back of the truck.”

“And? Please tell me you didn’t kidnap someone.”

“I didn’t! Well… strictly speaking, I didn’t. Dean, Patience had a vision about the kid.”

“Dammit. What about?”

“According to her? Sam getting stabbed, and the kid fighting someone in a white suit.

“Son-of-a-bitch!” Cade could hear a murmur on the other side of the call, most likely someone who wasn’t right by Dean. “Sam, just because Jody mentioned a white suit doesn’t-- Sam!” She heard sounds of a short scuffle came from the other side of the phone, and her lips twitched upward before remembering why she was here in the first place. One doesn’t smile when remembering someone how they were right before an accident. At least, Cade couldn’t.

“Hey, Jody.” This time the voice was higher, gentler. Cade took a steadying breath. Sam. “Look, we might have a few leads about the vision, but it’s too complicated for a phone call. I can explain in person, though. It’s, uh. Well, not something you want to be driving during.”

“Well, where are you now?” Jody silently gestured at Patience to get out the roadmap.

“Casper, Wyoming.”

* * *

 

Sam peered through the slats of the window’s blinds as Jody’s truck pulled into the empty parking lot. He let go of the slats, turning to look at Dean, who was currently curled up on the motel couch, laptop in his lap, looking over missing persons records. Sam fidgeted with the hem of his flannel, the worn fabric comforting under his fingertips. This wouldn’t be an easy conversation. In fact, it would be one of the hardest conversations he’d had in a long time.

Three sharp _raps_ on the door made him turn around, opening the door to look down at Jody, the rest of the Wayward Sisters in the middle of piling out of the car. “Hey,” he said quietly, putting on something that could pass as a smile.

“C’mere, Sam.” Jody wrapped Sam into a hug, practically reading Sam’s mind. His stomach almost untied its knots for a second, before twisting even tighter as Sam looked at the car to see a young girl, maybe sixteen or so, being _escorted_ out of the car by Claire.

Sam reluctantly unwrapped his arms from around Jody, huffing out a breath as he took in the girl. Claire held her by the elbow, and her wrists were cuffed, a disgruntled expression on her face. Her attire seemed too warm for South Dakota, but odder than that she looked… familiar. Familiar in the sense that Sam got huge deja vu just from looking at her. Why, though, he had no idea. He couldn't remember the last time he’d been in South Dakota. Maybe she just had one of those faces. She kept giving him this _look_.

Sam looked back through the door to Dean, who--aside from his hands and eyes--seemed like he hadn’t moved in at least half an hour, then back to the mystery girl. “Come inside,” he offered, opening the door as wide as it could go. There wasn’t much to look at, just two twin beds, a couch, a small table, the usual outfittings of a motel. The back wall, however, had a few notes and article cutouts taped up, one or two pieces of string connecting them. It was a lot less than there used to be, back before the Internet had everything, but it was still a modest serving of information.

Sam gestured toward the two beds for the women and sat himself down on the side of the couch that Dean wasn’t occupying. Another slow breath. His fingers had found their way back to the worn down hem of his flannel almost of their own accord. He felt guilty, almost, that he had only greeted Jody. But in a way, it would be easier to be a part of this conversation if he didn't feel as-- well, connected to them.

Jody and Claire quickly sat down on the first twin bed, on either side of the mystery girl _who was still giving him the same look_ . Patience glanced at the small space next to Claire before, almost reluctantly it seemed, sitting on the other bed with Alex and Kaia. She kept glancing at Claire. Sam didn’t know what to take away from that, but he didn’t need to take _anything_ away from it. He had more pressing issues at the moment.

Dean glanced over at Sam, giving him a tiny, reassuring smile before moving the laptop off of his lap and to the side, taking a look at the six women sitting on the ends of the two beds and facing the couch. “I’m sorry about the cold welcome, we’re neck-deep in a case and Sam didn’t even want to be here to have this conversation.”

Looks of complete confusion showed on every face in the room--aside from the faces of the Winchester brothers, of course. “Now,” Jody started, “all I know is that this was important enough to drive across a state and a half for, so you’re losing me. Does this have to do with Patience’s vision in general or the part where she saw this girl”--at this point the girl mumbled something that sounded like _Cade_ \--“fighting a man in a white suit?”

“Both of those,” Dean said slowly, not making any apparent move to get straight to the point of the conversation.

Sam shifted uncomfortably. The tension in the room was thick enough that it felt as if it was seeping into his lungs, slowly choking him. Dean needed to get it _over with_.

Apparently, Dean had a good idea of what Sam’s body language was saying because almost immediately Dean seemed to become completely focused on relaying all the information needed in the shortest amount of time possible. Of course, he couldn’t go as fast as he might want, as he really didn’t want any of the Wayward Sisters to have a heart attack, but aside from that precaution to give them a bit of time to process each bit, he would get it over with as quick as he could.

“Here’s the deal. There was a time, back in 2009, when the angel Zachariah sent me four years into the future. He did it to show me what would happen if I didn’t let Michael possess me, and the results were… terrifying.” Dean let the confused and slightly alarmed faces settle before he went on. “At the end of my three-day stay in that version of 2014, I met Lucifer. Only, Lucifer was possessing Sam, had been for who knows how long. Samifer, as I call him, killed the future Cas and the future me, before _not_ killing me.”

Kaia spoke up as soon as Dean paused to take a breath. “How does this connect to Patience’s vision? I don’t see a connection yet.”

Sam had the compelling urge to say _‘Patience, young padawan,’_ but he felt like if he tried he wouldn’t be able to get more than half of it out in a minute. His mouth felt dry, and he could almost imagine that he had memories of the cursed encounter. But he didn’t have memories of it, because it technically never happened, and so Sam’s mind just made it feel as if he did. Either way, it was painful.

Dean let out a huffing breath, glancing over at Sam for a second before resuming. “Samifer wore a white suit.”

A round of shocked sounds and expressions took place in the span of a few seconds, Patience’s eyes widening as she connected the dots, inhaling sharply. “You’re telling us that my vision of you getting stabbed could be _good?!_ ” Patience looked highly doubtful.

Dean nodded slowly. “Well, seeing the girl fighting a man in a white suit could also mean something else. Asmodeus -- one of the princes of Hell, Crowley’s replacement in Hell, and currently someone who is making our lives a lot harder than it should be -- wears a white suit as well.”

“So either way,” Claire said, “this girl could be good news.”

The girl spoke up. “My name is Cade,” she said slowly, furrowing her brows in Claire’s direction. “Don’t be rude, Claire.”

Dean was out of his seat in an instant, grabbing the pistol from the coffee table before anyone could blink. “Claire, was your name mentioned at any point since _Cade_ came along?” Dean’s face had taken on a hard, suspicious look. Cade shrunk backward into herself, looking more like a nervous and scolded child than frightened.

Claire looked suspicious as well but slowly nodded. “Just once, I think. She wasn’t super close to us, but she was within speaking range.”

Dean slowly sat down again but kept the pistol in his hand. Sam had just stayed there, silent, as if nothing could move him. Perhaps he needed to stay silent in order to stay calm. He wasn’t really sure, anymore.

Just as Dean opened his mouth to speak again, Sam had a sudden thought. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Eyes were on him now, as Dean had closed his mouth to wait for Sam. Dean looked like he always did -- like his older brother -- but a gleam of understanding and compassion was in his eyes. God, Sam wished he could just get the words out. He tried again and, while his voice was quiet and felt hoarse, he could actually talk. It felt off to do so, but not as much as it did at other times.

“Check her.”

“What?” Dean looked momentarily confused, and Sam winced at the volume of his voice.

“Iron, Dean.” There were more ways to check someone's monster status -- or lack of -- but Sam felt as if he was holding his brain and vocal cords at gunpoint. He wasn’t unable to speak (yet), but he was pretty goddamn close.

Less than three minutes later, thanks to the girl’s -- Cade’s -- odd compliance, Cade is decidedly _not_ a monster. Not one they know how to test easily, at least. Dean is still on guard, but more relaxed -- although when has that word ever been used to describe Dean. Sam is feeling a bit better, but will probably end up just huddling in the corner for a few minutes when he can in order to feel better and more like a functioning human.

“Well,” said Jody, looking from her girls to the two brothers, “we still haven’t gotten to a conclusion. Suggestions, anyone?” The Wayward Sisters seemed to unanimously shrug, but Dean once again had something to say.

“If you aren’t very busy,” -- this was followed by a snort from Claire -- “we’re in town on a case. A pack of werewolves. We’re doing pretty well for ourselves, but we think this is bigger than we’d realized. Care to get your hands dirty?” Each and every one of the women readily agreed, save Cade, the mystery that no one knew what to do with.

Sam decided that the shocked, oddly sad look Cade had gotten when werewolves had been mentioned was none of his business, even if she was a mystery and potentially dangerous. She would be protected and protected from, even if Sam felt odd unease around her. It would all work out in the end, wouldn’t it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sam has anxiety. Not by name, the brothers don't have time for "shrinks" or anything, but he does have anxiety. His anxiety was written by KTallent, who also has anxiety. KT also has nonverbal anxiety attacks due to extremely emotionally stressful or harmful events/environments, so they used their experiences to write Sam's difficulty with speaking towards the end of the chapter.


End file.
